Tuesday 18 March 2014

In remembrance - My pet Curious

| |
Have you kept a pet before? Yes? How about quails?

Well, I did. Before last Sunday, I had 2 quails, 1 male 1 female. On Sunday Morning, the female one, named Curious left us.



Ok, for those of us who had not kept a quail before, a quail is like a bird, similar to a chicken except their eggs are smaller and appeared to be black and white.

How long can a quail live? According to the breeder, it can live up to 3 years. So what do a quail eat? They feed on food that can be bought in a bird's shop. I normally replenish their food by visiting 1 of the older bird shops at Serangoon North.

Maybe i just share how do I 1st got in touch with Quail. My wife and I was on vacation leave locally and had decided to explore some places which we have never stepped our feet on. Being animal lovers, both of us went to this rustic place located near Choa Chu Kang, named FarmMart. 

While walking through this place, we noticed there were some very nostalgic snacks that can be purchased there. The feel of that place looks like a farm, or rather like a Kampong. (Kampong - A place to describe a malay village)

There is even a farm within farm mart that makes this place even more special. This farm consist of Goats (yes goats!), rabbits, fishes, terrapins, parrots, birds, guinea pigs and quails. My wife had a good fun time feeding the goats and the rest of the pets.

When we thought we had finished visiting this place, we saw this stall selling quail meat, quail eggs, crocodile meat and other fresh eggs. So my wife was curious about this shop so we stopped and took a look. We were greeted by Uncle William, the owner of this stall.



After chatting with Uncle William, we understood he is in the business of producing quails and he sells them for their eggs and food. Besides that, he brought along 1 basket of quails but had only left with 3. So he asked if we wanted to get them, 3 for $10. We thought about it and got them back. William then taught us some technique of keeping quails. We went on to made our purchase for their pet house and other necessities. We named them Sleepy, Quaiky and the other called Tamagochi.


On the way back, sleepy injured herself and passed away not long after. Being new to keeping quails, Quaiky met an accident by the falling water bottle and she too left us. That left us with the last one, Tamagochi, he was very playful, noisy and can't stop making noise but one day when we reached home, we found him weak and frail, we noticed his food was too big piece and he too passed away.

So being sad about it, we brought back the remaining food when we went for an enrichment course conducted by William. During his sharing, he shared many insights on keeping quails. After the course, we went to share with him on what happened to the quails. William asked if we wanted to give it another try and volunteered to give us another 2 quails.

After much consideration, we decided to accept his good offer and we took home Active and Curious.




In the beginning stage of the quail's life cycle, we do not know the gender of them. Their gender will only be revealed when they hit around 1 month old.

Active and Curious grew up fast, side by side they went. Once awhile, we will free them up by allowing them to walk around the house. Sometimes they might even fly around the house. Ok, William told us before they don't fly, only jump. So if that's their jumping, they can jump really high.



Here's their Gender, Active is a boy and Curious is a girl. How do we determine? It was shared that the male will crow and chirp while the female will only chirp. The mail quail will have brightly colored feathers. Moreover the female will have a larger body than the male.

Curious started off with yellow fur and when she grew up, they had became white. It was as though she had transformed from a ugly duckling to a beautiful swan.



So how do curious got her name? Yes, it was because of her curiosity nature in her, constantly looking out for the surroundings and people, that was her instincts.

She layed her 1st egg when she turned 1 month old plus.(if memory didn't failed me) I was happy for her as that was the 1st to many more that followed.

Active and Curious stays together like a married couple, have a little chase around their house and active bullying curious. But overall, they get along fine.



When they go out for their walk, Active will always look out for Curious's safety. By calling out to her to ensure she is nearby him wherever they go. That is surely something very sweet.

So what killed Curious? It could be the haze, but poor curious is now gone. I am quite badly affected by it's passing off. But the person who is most affected is none other than Active. He had been calling out for curiously daily. Screaming out for her to go home. Yes, animals have feelings too, it's sad to see him losing his loved on. He will need to learn to live by his own now.



Curious, if you are reading this article (hopefully in quail heaven where you can finally read), I want to tell you you had brought joy to all of us. You had went to a happier place, please pray for Active as he is losing sleep over your passing over. All of us will miss you. Take care of yourself.

Until one day, we will eventually meet again. Pray for us, keep a lookout for us. We love you.



Read More

Tuesday 11 March 2014

Looking for Cheap Pet Food? Discover SuperPets (Previously known as Pets Dreamz)

| |
Where do you normally get your pet food from? From a nearby pet shop? Ok, how about the price? is it cheaper than the rest of the retailers in Singapore? If the answer is no, may i recommend Pets Dreamz.



My parents were taking a walk at the heartland Ang Mo Kio estate and they noticed there is a shop down the neighborhood selling pets food and pets accessories.

So being pet lovers themselves, they decided to take a look at the varieties offered by this shop. When they looked at the price of the items, they were shocked to see that the prices were much cheaper than most retailers out there.

So, they had a little chat with the business owner. After which, he passed them his business card. Upon reaching home, they told me about this shop down the neighborhood and asked me to take a look myself. Well, since my pet food supply is running low, i have decided to head down to this place with my wife.


When we arrived at the humble shop, we took our time to look at the shop and doing our price comparison based on our memories. We were pleasantly shocked to find the prices are 20%-40% lower than our usual pet food supplier.

So being a kiasu Singaporean (*Kiasu - Singlish word for not wanting to miss an opportunity*), we took 2 bags of hay and a couple bottles of vitamin pills for our pets.


Upon checking out from the shop, the owner introduced himself as Brian. He mentioned to us that his shop is offering much lower price as compared to others as he believe pet lovers should not take keeping pets as a burden.

The reason why he set up such a wholesale centre for pet food is the rising pet food cost in Singapore. According to Brian, the food goes up once every 6 months. So, we signed up to be a member of the shop.


Membership is free (as long as you spend over $20 in 1 receipt). Delivery is also free if you spent over $80. So, being grateful to Brian, we promised to blogged about Pets Dreamz and hope that his business will prosper.

The most important part

Address:

Wholesale Centre
Ang Mo Kio Ave 1
#01-633
Singapore 561226

Branch
Bukit Batok East Ave 1
#01-152
Singapore 650271

More outlets coming our way! If we didn't remember wrongly, 1 will be in Yishun 1 will be in the eastern part of Singapore.

They also have a Holistic Pet Hotel (wow), housing pets whose owners had gone overseas..

Location
52 Jalan Limnok
Singapore 548731

Lastly, do visit their website at www.petsdreamzonline.com

Hot seller

Read More

Saturday 8 March 2014

Possibly the best Yong Tau Fu in Singapore? - Fu Lin

| |
Happened to walk past this Chinese Yong Tau Fu stall near Amoy street, along Telok Ayer road during lunch hour.

This humble shop house is located opposite one of Singapore's oldest temple. What attracted me was the long queue. So out of curiosity, I went in to take a look what's so nice about their food.



In Singapore, there's a saying that long queue = good food. So, I joined in the queue and picked my 6 Yong Tau Fu ingredients. Didn't know what to pick since there are not too many variety to choose from. There was this nice looking cheese sausage at the side with a price tag specially tagged on top of it. It cost $2.10 each or equals to 3 pieces of normal ingredients. So being a fan of cheese sausage, I selected it together with some Kang Kongs, seaweed chicken, some fried Ngoh Hiang and a piece of ku gua (bitter-gourd). The set of 6 items + noodles/rice cost you $5.30.



You can have them in soup or dry, but i would recommend to have them dry. Between the rice and noodles, i selected Noodles, inclusive of up-sizing it by topping up 50 cents.


The taste wise? Well, let's put it this way, it is not your normal Yong Tau Fu. The owner has an unique way of preparing the food, presenting them like how you would expect to see in a restaurant. The noodles are something like thick bee hoon style. The amazing factor lies with the sauce that goes with it. The highlight of the day is the cheese sausage. Cheese lovers be on alert! You need to try it to believe me of the amazing taste. Besides the dishes i had ordered, there is also this vege named Di Wang Miao that is nice. For those of us who have not tried this, it's time to do so. If you like it, return to this stall and order for more.



They have more than just 1 outlet in Singapore, found another 1 at Suntec City's food republic too! But i prefer the one at Amoy Street. Their main outlet is still at East Coast.


So, my Yong Tau Fu lovers, if you have yet to try this, what are you waiting for? Definitely 5/5 stars.



Read More

Wednesday 5 March 2014

School students asked to undress in school - Parents might be interested in this

| |
Witcast received a tip-off in regard to the treatment received from a student in a Primary school located in the Northeast area.

For illustration purpose only, this is not the school involved

Here are the details sent in by a concerned parent.


If you are considering to put your child in neighborhood school at Punggol, please DO NOT consider E******* PRIMARY SCHOOL.


They are so bo-liao(Witcast - "Bo-liao" is a Singlish word that meant they got nothing better to do) to the extend that they ask my boy to undress himself everyday and check for cane marks. MOE guidelines now is no caning/ beating only can scold. I have checked with my other friends, they said their school wont be so bo-liao to check for cane marks. 




2 days ago when i wanted to beat/ cane my son, he siam (Witcast - "Siam" is a Singlish word that meant getting out of the way) and accidentally hit the Marble table and gotten a bruise on his cheek area. I rubbed the bruise for him immediately when he had that knock. And the bruise became more obvious. Which parents would not feel pain when they beat/ cane or see their child getting injured? 



The school teacher and counselor were ridiculous! They assumed that my son was badly injured and needed immediate medical attention. Ask me to bring him for medical check up. I didn't bring him as it was a busy day for me.

For illustration purpose only, this is not the boy involved


Usually my son will reach home by 2pm as he finishes school at 1.30pm. School didn't called up to inform that they need to bring my son for medical check up. Until about 2.30pm, i called up and the counselor said my son is with her and she is bring him for a medical check up. Never mention what time he will be done and also never mention where he is going for the check up. How can they detained my son without even informing me making me worried and waiting at home?! 



At 4pm, I received a call from a MCYS officer. The officer say my son is at KKH and he need to be hospitalize as they investigate. But I was being asked to school yesterday to clarify the bruise on his face. Everything was explained to them and they advised me not to cane/ beat my son in future. Ask me to throw away the cane. Yesterday, my son made me very angry. I cooled down and didn't cane/ beat him. Suddenly today they reported the case to MCYS today making so much trouble for me. (My friend says they wanna do this to gain credit and make people say tat this is a good school cos its a new school) . When I asked when can he be discharge. They say have to wait for further notice, 



THIS IS JUST ONE BAD INCIDENT I HAD WITH THIS SCHOOL...


So, Witcast did a simple QnA with this concern parent and this was the conversation.

Witcast : So Mr xxx (Witcast didn't published his name for sensitivity issues), what do you think were the reasons behind this? 

Mr xxx : They said that every school does that, cause it's MOE guidelines, parents are not supposed to beat/cane their child... only can scold. But my friend who send her son to another school says she questioned the principal, if cant cane then how to teach them? The principal replied they are able to cane but cane at places that cannot be seen. Which mean places that are covered up.

WC:Canning at places that can't be seen? Isn't that worst? 

Mr xxx : Usually I cane my son's palm... If he siam then bo bian kena other places by accident. If unlucky and kena other places that can be seen counselor will call us up again.
(Bo bian - Singlish word that meant no choice. Kena is another Singlish word that meant something had happened)

For illustration purpose only, this is not the school involved
Witcast: You mentioned undress, you are aware that you can lodge a complaint with the MOE right?

Mr xxx: Yes, my son told me that they asked my son to undress himself... i'm going to do so cos they are not supposed to do that.

Witcast: Not sure what they will eventually do to your son if they know you had sent a complaint to MOE though. I would advise that you arrange for a meet up with the School's Principal to have a chat in regard to this situation. It might clear up some air.

Mr xxx: The Principal and the VP would not be a good choice. I spoke to the VP the other day, listening to the counselor side of the story and believe that my son was being abused by me. Yesterday when they spoke to me that didn't talk about bring the matter to MCYS. I think they did this today out of purpose as yesterday they asked me to bring my son to the doctor and i didnt bring and they brought the matter up to MCYS. And the counselor still warn me saying i will be either charged or fined and my son will be taken away.

WC: So i understand you will not be going to approach the Principal or the VP, is there any actions you will be taking against the sch?

Mr xxx : Hopefully MOE or the MP take action against this school.
(MP - Member of Parliment)

WC: I see, thank you for sharing your story with us and we are deeply sorry for what you and your family is going through, is there any other things you wish to say?

Mr xxx: I just don't like the way the school deal with things. My son is under the FAS (Financial Assistant 
School Scheme). The teachers looked down on him. Just bo chap him in class.
(Bo chap - can't be bothered)

The teacher knows my son has such problem of not handing up his school work and had been seeing the school counselor,

They said they will check his bag as and when there is a need to hand up the home work. End up home work wasn't hand up and the teacher will blame my son and says that he is irresponsible. If wants someone to change their bad habit also need time right?



Witcast : Yes, we agree. It seemed to us that there is some form of bias behavior going on here. Mr xxx, all the best to your appeal.

Witcast would like to clarify that we are not in the position to take sides. The above story were contributed by 1 of our readers. If this indeed happened to our Primary School, MOE might need to do a thorough investigation. 

For illustration purpose only, this is not the school involved

Read More